THE BOOK FAIR
READ AND FULFILL YOUR LIFE
Sue Monk Kidd
The
SECRET LIFE
OF BEES
Author: Sue Monk Kidd
Published: 2002
Genre: Fiction
Cover: Paperback
Pages: 302
Review:
Set in 1960, South Carolina, the interesting, well told, well written, and entertaining story describes a young woman’s search for her missing mother.
After suffering years of abuse from her father, and sickened by the racism in the town, Lily Owens decides she and Rosaleen, her black maid, must leave. Lily takes her mother’s picture of a “Black Mary” with her, with the name, Tiburon, on the back. The two find their way to Tiburon, SC where Lily begins to trace her mother’s steps.
The author expresses the necessity and beauty of family, underlining the strength of women, love, and healing, with the message that people can live together happily and race is of no consequence to character.
The
Invention
of Wings
Author: Sue Monk Kidd
Published: 2002
Genre: Fiction
Cover: Paperback
Pages: 302
Review:
Sue Monk Kidd based her third novel, “The Invention of Wings”, on the abolitionists and suffragettes, Sarah and Angelina Grimke. John Grimke, their father, served on the Supreme Court in South Carolina and was a staunch defender of slavery. Sarah and Angelina, two of fourteen siblings, broke away from their families and Church, moved from South Carolina to Pennsylvania in the 1920’s and joined the Quakers. The sisters however, were later expelled from the Quakers after Angelina married a non-Quaker.
The Grimke sisters were the first American women to act on behalf of social reform by engaging in public speaking and offering lectures. Sarah published, “Letters on the Equality of the Sexes”, in 1937. The Grimke sisters joined the American Anti-Slavery Society and wrote pamphlets against slavery. “American Slavery As It Is”, was published in 1939, fifteen years prior to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”
In the novel:
Sarah, the young daughter, was given a gift of a female slave, Hetty. Using Sarah’s notes, the author developed the story between Hetty and Sarah. However, in that Hetty died young, the character and relationship is mostly fictitious. The portrayal of Sarah as a weakling and of Hetty, as endlessly haughty, seems unrealistic. Sarah did teach Hetty to read, as in the novel, which was against the law and also in direct defiance to her father. Sarah however, in the novel, freed Hetty shortly after receiving her, even though Sarah’s parents disagreed and dismissed the notion.
Note:
The novel, loosely related to the story of two Grimke sisters, cites incidents which occurred, such as the plot by Denmark Vesey, a Black carpenter who won his own freedom. The atrocities inflicted upon slaves were documented. Sarah did accompany her father to Pennsylvania for his medical treatment, and while there, met with Quakers, who held similar views on abolition. Sarah did have a relationship with a wealthy gentleman Quaker, Israel Morris, whom she met aboard ship on her return home to South Carolina. However, Sarah did not suffer a speech impediment.
Angelina did write the letter to the “Liberator”, the letter was published in 1935 and Angelina did marry Theodore Weld, a fellow abolitionist who trained the sisters to become speakers for the movement.
As in the novel, Sarah longed to become an attorney however her father disallowed her to do so, believing the traditional role of women to be at home and married with children. Sarah Grimke became an abolitionist in 1935. The Grimke sisters differed from other abolitionists in that Sarah and Angelina fought not only for the abolition of slavery but for racial equality.
The title, "The Invention of Wings", represents the desire for freedom.
For more information on the Grimke sisters please refer to the review listed in non-fiction: "The Grimke Sisters from South Carolina," by Gerda Lerner.